Hyundai A-League Season Review: October

With much fanfare the tenth iteration of the Hyundai A-League kicked off in October with the Sky Blues opening clash taking place at Allianz Stadium against a Melbourne City side boasting former World Cup, Champions League and La Liga winner David Villa.

A scintillating home Sydney Derby clash followed before a trip to Brisbane saw the Sky Blues finish the month in second place.

Round One:

Sydney FC 1 (Gameiro 54’) Melbourne City 1 (Villa 62’).

Saturday 11 October, 2014

Allianz Stadium

Attendance: 25,525

Match Summary: A crowd of 25,525 saw a stunning strike from Sydney FC forward Corey Gameiro cancelled out by a first Hyundai A-League goal from Spanish World Cup winner David Villa in the second half.

They Sky Blues were without six players who were away on international duty as Graham Arnold gave chances to Foxtel National Youth League youngsters George Blackwood, Max Burgess and Alex Gersbach.

Sydney FC almost won it at the death however, with only the crossbar denying Terry Antonis from becoming the hero from a powerful dipping volley.

Graham Arnold: “I was very proud of the boys with the numbers down that we had. I thought first half we were a little bit nervous but second half we came into it much better. We moved the ball much better and at the end if Antonis’ shot doesn’t hit the cross bar then we could have won the game.

“I thought second half it was predominantly us. Young George did well, he did a great job upfront for us for 55 minutes. We’re a work in progress with the ball and I want us to play football and I want us to play out from the back and it’s going to take time. I thought Seb Ryall did a good job on Villa and was our man of the match tonight.

“When you’re playing against the richest club in the country and against a superstar like that with the numbers we were down then yes I’d take 1-1 at the start of the game. It took a world class player to deny us all three points.”

Match Summary: Sydney FC produced an incredible comeback to win the Sydney Derby 3-2 in front of a record crowd of 41,213 at Allianz Stadium to go second briefly in the Hyundai A-League ladder.

The Sky Blues went 2-0 down inside 24 minutes but showed class to turn the game around thanks to goals from Corey Gameiro, Sasa Ognenovski and captain Alex Brosque.

Western Sydney Wanderers midfielder Vitor Saba was sent off for a challenge on Terry Antonis in a passionate game in front of a packed crowd.

The crowd figure was a record for a regular season crowd of any code at Allianz Stadium and breaks Sydney FC’s record for a regular season crowd of 40,338 against the Wanderers last season.

Graham Arnold: “I think it [the win] was down to a good football team, I think over 90 minutes we had 15 bad minutes and that’s when they got the 2 goals. We gifted them the 2 goals, for me the other 75 minutes was all us.

“I thought we played some real good stuff. When we went down 2-0 I changed the system to a 4-2-3-1, it needed an extra midfielder there, and thankfully we got that goal just before half time to give us that belief.

“I thought the second half was a barrage. We were down their end nearly the whole time. It was good.

“It’s a great night for our fans. It’s a wonderful occasion with a huge, record breaking crowd, and to go 2-0 home behind and send our supporters home with a 3-2 win, I think that will stay in their memory for a long, long time. “

League Position: 3

Round Three:

Brisbane Roar 0 Sydney FC 2 (Janko 27’, Dimitrijevic 54’)

Friday 24 October, 2014

Suncorp Stadium

Attendance: 14,141

Match Summary: Two fantastic strikes from Austrian Marc Janko and Serbian Milos Dimitrijevic either side of the break secured the three points for the Sky Blues as Graham Arnold’s men remained unbeaten in the Hyundai A-League season.

Both goals came from distance and Sydney FC could easily have scored more in a dominant display against the reigning Champions.

Graham Arnold: “I’m delighted especially after having three games in six days. This was a very important game and we had enough fresh legs in the team to do what we needed to do tonight.”

“Against Brisbane you can’t start slowly and we wanted intensity right from the start. We tried to do that and could have had a goal in the first two minutes.”

“The boys put in a fantastic performance tonight, a great effort.”

“It’s only round three, we’ve got a long, long way to go and this team will only get better. We’ve got players that are not here today that can add a lot to the team as well. For me it’s about the team, it’s about the squad and the boys are doing well.”